Greatness

Is what we … something.

I once read, somewhere, that the meaning of life is different for each of us. That we find the answer and then we know that it’s our answer. I think that’s a pile of steaming natto.

A better definition comes from the movie Blade Runner, at the end when Roy Batty says:

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

I just finished watching Good Will Hunting again. Last night I watched Matrix Reloaded, again. Am I going anywhere with this, is there meaning to it all. No, not really.

Why can’t I be allowed to be happy being dull, ordinary and plain. Why do I have to excel at things? Why can’t I be lazy? Why does society put expectations on us that makes us want to be more than we might be?

Oddly enough, that’s a very Western view of the world. Here, in Japan one is expected to fit in with those around us. There is a mold that school students are squeezed into. Much like some private schools back in Sydney. Quite a few break out of it, but eventually they are dragged back, kicking and screaming. Or maybe they are just weekend cowboys or Sunday carpenters.

Maybe we can go through our whole life not really knowing what it is we want. Making mistakes thinking they are the right choices, and missing the right choices because the only experience we have are the mistakes that our lives are built upon. Which fork in the road do we take when the street sign is written in a language we can’t read.